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Title: Parallel computation and the Basis system

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6704924

A software package has been written that can facilitate efforts to develop powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use programs that can run in single-processor, massively parallel, and distributed computing environments. Particular attention has been given to the difficulties posed by a program consisting of many science packages that represent subsystems of a complicated, coupled system. Methods have been found to maintain independence of the packages by hiding data structures without increasing the communication costs in a parallel computing environment. Concepts developed in this work are demonstrated by a prototype program that uses library routines from two existing software systems, Basis and Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM). Most of the details of these libraries have been encapsulated in routines and macros that could be rewritten for alternative libraries that possess certain minimum capabilities. The prototype software uses a flexible master-and-slaves paradigm for parallel computation and supports domain decomposition with message passing for partitioning work among slaves. Facilities are provided for accessing variables that are distributed among the memories of slaves assigned to subdomains. The software is named PROTOPAR.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
6704924
Report Number(s):
UCRL-ID-112738; ON: DE93008755
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English